Renowned Indian lyricist Sameer Anjaan has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for writing lyrics to the most number of Bollywood songs. The official record states that Sameer wrote 3,524 songs for 650 Bollywood movies, as verified on December 15, 2015. Sameer was included as a Guinness World Record holder under a new category titled ‘Most prolific Bollywood lyricist’.
Son of veteran lyricist Anjaan (Lalji Pandey), Sameer started his career as a lyricist in 1983 with Bekhabar. Later, films such as Dil and Aashiqui established him as the undisputed champion of romantic songs. He has three Filmfare awards in his list of accolades.
Sameer Anjaan
- Sameer, officially named Shitala Pandey, but commonly known by his nickname Rajan, was born near Banaras, Uttar Pradesh.
- He won his first Filmfare Award for the song Nazar Ke Saamne.
- He earned a Master of Commerce degree at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, and started a new position as a bank officer at the Central Bank of India.
- However, a few days after joining, he left the job because, according to him, he “knew the bank was not my world”. To pursue a career as a lyricist, he moved to Mumbai in 1980.
A biography, “Sameer – A Way with Words” by Derek Bose was released by Amitabh Bachchan in 2007.
